Growing up in rural Japan in 1861, Sachi has always felt different, her pale skin setting her apart. When she is 11, a princess passes through her village, sweeping her off to the women's palace in Edo, home to 3000 women and only one man - the young shogun. Sachi is chosen as his concubine. But Japan is changing.

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Growing up in rural Japan in 1861, Sachi has always felt different, her pale skin setting her apart. When she is 11, a princess passes through her village, sweeping her off to the women's palace in Edo, home to 3000 women and only one man - the young shogun. Sachi is chosen as his concubine. But Japan is changing.

As civil war erupts, Sachi flees for her life. Rescued by a rebel warrior, she finds unknown feelings stirring within her. But before she dare dream of a life with him, Sachi must unravel the mystery of her own origins - a mystery that encompasses a wrong so terrible that it threatens to destroy her.

Although the story is interesting and the narrator is doing a very good job, it gets kind of boring. The reason is that there is very little dialog between the characters. A lot of describing and thinking, but not very much interacting between the characters and that makes me lose interest after a while. Listened through the book though but felt "finally!" when it was done.

This book might have been saved by a different narrator. I'm not usually bothered by narrators, but when speaking for female characters the narrator spoke as if she was 6 years old ruining the meaning of the context. I had to work EXTREEMLY hard to finish this book. Disappointing listen.

Yes! This book is a wonderful work of historical fiction that opens the komodo and provides an evocative glimpse into the secret social structure of the Shogun era. The story is captivating, the characters compelling and you are quickly drawn into the adventure unfolding during a pivotal time in Japanese history. What a ride!

Please don't download this book without listening to the narration first because it really is terrible. I'm sure the story is perfectly good but the narration is so bad you can't past listening to it to hear the story.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Christiane

LondonUnited Kingdom

7/17/09

Overall

"The last Concubine"

Please do not download this book! It is awful in every respect. As other reviewers have pointed out the narration is terrible. There are some amazing mispronunciations too.
But most importantly the story line and character development are dreadful. It feels like someone was fascinated by the 'exotic' setting of historic Japan but had no grasp whatsoever of the culture, the very different mindset of the people, the concept of honour and the way this influences day to day life. These aspects are continually referred to by interminable repetitions and immediately disregarded in the development both of the story line and the individual characters. And it gets worse and worse and worse throughout the book. In the end I plodded along in 20 minute instalments. If it hadn't been so frustrating, it would have been quite funny.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Mara

Nr Penrith, United Kingdom

5/25/09

Overall

"The need for a pad and paper"

This audiobook left me feeling frustrated. It is very difficult to follow who is who, the names of the characters are confusing to the point where i stopped trying to understand and just prayed for the end which when it did arrive was anti-climatic. The narrator also has a way of holding on to words that is at first unusual and then irritating. I do not like being this negative after someone has spent a great deal of time writing the book and then having it narrated into an audiobook, it is just that i felt obliged to listen to it rather than revelling in many of the other books that i have purchased from audible.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Kindle Customer

8/23/09

Overall

"The Last Concubine"

Enjoyed this long book which gives a good insight to life in the Imperial Japanese Court in the 19th Century.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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